The present teachings relate to a movable camera support, arranged to locate a camera in a movable fashion within a housing of a surveillance camera system. The present teachings also relate to an assembly comprising several such supports in a housing, and a method for operating the same.
A typical IP-camera includes a camera or camera head arranged in a housing having a transparent portion so as to enable acquisition of images with the camera head. In some situations, it may be beneficial to include several camera heads within a single housing, in order to provide a more versatile imaging of an area surrounding the housing. For optimal use of such multi-camera systems the individual camera heads are preferably movably arranged within the housing.
Prior-art examples of support arrangements include solutions where each camera head is arranged on a guide plate by means of screws, brackets, magnets, and the like as is disclosed in EP2887328 by the present applicant, as well as in products commercialized by the present applicant.
Although the present teachings do not relate to the camera head as such, but to a structural support for the same; within the context of the present application “camera head” primarily refers to an imaging device comprising a lens assembly and an image sensor. The camera head may also include image processing hardware and software, in which case it may have the full capability of a camera, yet for a system including several camera heads it may be preferred that image processing is performed in a control unit to which the camera head has a wired or wireless connection. For the same reason, although digital cameras or IP-cameras are specifically mentioned, the present teachings are equally applicable to analogue surveillance cameras.
There are a number of possible improvements to existing support arrangements, and several improvements may be connected to reliability and user experience. As an example: while the camera head supports should be movably arranged it must be possible to secure their positional setup once the desired setup is accomplished. Using screw means or clamping means to secure the support may be considered cumbersome and may also limit the motion to a number of discrete positions.
To this end there are a number of improvements that could be realized and the present teachings aim at providing some of them.